Tag Archives: twist and curl

I was going to call this, “Curly ‘Fro: Take Two” (see “take one” here). However, this time it reeeeeally looked nothing like a ‘fro and turned out very similar to my old Twist n’ Curl (TnC) … so, yeah.

I hit Sally’s on Tuesday night for more perm rods. My intent originally was to get more grey rods as I thought that I might not have enough. Instead, when I got to Sally’s, I saw the slightly larger pink ones and decided to get those as I wanted bigger hair than I achieved the last time. And, get this, the perm rods were on sale 2 for $3!!!!

The rods on the right are shorter, although the labeling is no different.I got the shorter ones for my front as they only had 3 bags of the longer rods.

Once I got home, I got to work:

Started with dry hair that had been in twists for a day and a twist-out for a day.

Finger detangled dry hair in about 10 sections with my coconut oil whip. Y’all … this part took FOREVER, mostly because of my nape area which has been knotting and tangling badly :(. Once I detangled each section, I twisted it.

Starting from the back and moving forward, I applied a dab of Shea Moisture Raw Shea Restorative Conditioner and a dab of Eco Styler Olive Oil Gel to a small sections.

Then, I twisted to about halfway down the length of my hair and set the whole length on a perm rod wrapped in end paper (the end paper prevents my hair from snagging and tearing out when the rods are removed).

I used a total of 28 rods, so only 2 1/3 bags of rods, to set my hair and it took THREE HOURS!! Ughhhh!!

As y’all know, as I was applying the product, my hair was looking soooo stringy. I had a flashback on CurlyNikki’s WnG experience with it. Remember that? If not, see here. F’reals … I was definitely afraid that I would end up looking like Randy Watson!!

Fortunately, all was right with the world when I removed the rollers and released the twists the next day :). So, here is the tale in pics and the final results.

(Click pics to enlarge and read full captions.)

Dry hair prior to detangling.

You can see the texture difference in this shot.

The back.

Encountered several of these horrid tangles and knots.

After I finished dry detangling with my coconut oil whip.

All set and concerned … “Please don’t let me look like Soul Glo!!!”

Released from rods, but still twisted.

Another angle.

The back.

That face is one of RELIEF!! Untwisted but not separated further.

WHEW!!!

So, I was very pleased, even though my hair didn’t end up being as big as I would have liked. I was really surprised at how soft of a set the Eco Styler Olive Oil gel provided!! I’ll be trying this again, but on damp hair with the smaller grey rods. But I won’t be doing that for a minute as my hair really needs a break from being worn down. The cold winter and all this friction from rubbing against my coat and clothes has been doing a number on my nape and I ain’t got time for all of that.

Oh, and as to day 2 hair? Well, I twisted it into four big twists on Wednesday night, so those Shirley Temple like curls didn’t last long. I had bigger waves … but, you know, I was feeling it!!

As promised, here are the results from the twist out set I did on Wash Day Sunday. I turned out pretty well, though I did have to add some moisture to my ends as they were feeling a bit dry. And, let me tell you, I was NOT happy when I first released it because it looked so piecey, was not falling right, the tail was in full effect and the parting wasn’t working. My part was also to far back, so it looked totally flat on top.

Can you tell that I’m not happy?

But, after playing around with it a bit, changing the direction of the hair to go back from my face, it allowing it to settle, I got it to look satisfactory.

The funny thing? This was after work and never saw the light of day. LOL!! I actually ended up wearing my twists to work again!! See, what had happened was … I twisted them up and secured with a hair fork in the morning in order to shower. When I took off my satin scarf and shower cap, I realized that the updo looked kind of cute! So, I decided to go to work with it as is!! Don’t you just love easy accidental styles?!?!?!

Yes! Despite the looming “Frankenstorm” that is Hurricane Sandy and last minute preparations, including housecleaning, laundry work and survival grocery shopping, I managed to wash and set my hair yesterday! I figured, I’d better do it now or I might be SOL this week and walking around with a rat’s nest as my town is prone to long-ended power outages in severe storms.

Not only did I wash my hair, I decided to try something new! You see, last week, I received an unexpected package at my door!! Mizani products!! I was sent items from the Supreme Oil and True Textures lines. As I was given a shampoo, conditioner, mask, leave-in and “jelly,” I figured I’d try using them all. I don’t think I’ve ever used a single line for washing and styling, so I figured, “Why not?” Mind you, I realize that, technically, this is two lines ;).

Anywho, I pre-pooed overnight from Saturday into Sunday with equal parts Aubrey Honeysuckle Rose and GPB conditioners mixed with Vatika oil on my hair and WGHO on my scalp. As usual, I placed my hair in 6 twists. Early afternoon on Sunday, I washed with the sulfate-free Supreme Oil Shampoo, applied the conditioner to detangle and ended up having to add some Herbal Essences Hello Hydration to finish the job and then “deep conditioned” for 15 minutes with the mask (the directions only indicate: 3-5 minutes; but I decided to make it 15 and add my thermal wrap). Next, I cooled and sealed with the diluted conditioner. I have to say, my hair didn’t feel as smooth, soft and silky as it normally does. It felt a little hard and coarse.

After lightly blotting my ends with a Curl Cloth to sop up the drippies, I applied the True Textures Leave-in to each released twist one by one and combed it through with a wide-tooth comb. The comb glided through my hair relatively easily despite the leave-in having an Elmer’s Glue like appearance and consistency! LOL!! Next, I applied a decent amount of the True Textures Curl Set Jelly section by section to form 14 twists, 7 on each side. I smoothed a little extra at my roots to control the fuzzies. The Jelly also had a different appearance, almost like petroleum jelly mixed with gel. However, it wasn’t at all greasy and also went on smoothly.

Mizani True Textures Curl Soft Leave-in (L); Curl Set Jelly (R)

Finally, I applied a little Vatika Oil to my ends and set the twists on small grey perm rods.

And this is what I look like as I type this, except that I have a satin scarf around my edges and I’ll sleep in my open-ended pocket bonnet.

As to the Mizani lines, preliminarily, I’ve already told my sister that she can have the Supreme Oil products as I didn’t feel they did my hair any favors. She likes Mizani though, so she’d like to give them a whirl. As to the True Textures leave-in and jelly, the verdict is still out on those. But, the thing is … I’m not feeling the ingredient lists on these products. So, even if my hair turns out great, I doubt that I’d purchase them myself. I mean, seriously, the first ingredient in all of the products is water preceded by a number (e.g. 42856 SS8 Aqua/Water). But, each product has a different number at the beginning (though they seem somewhat sequential). I haven’t been able to determine what the “modifiers” mean. But, when water isn’t plain water, I become a little concerned. When I can’t figure out why water isn’t plain water, then I become wary. So, yeah, there’s a little side eye action going on right now.

All that being said, I’ll be back with my results later today … hopefully! They are predicting that “Frankestorm” will hit us beginning early afternoon Monday and continue through Wednesday, with the worst of it being Tuesday. So, it’s highly likely that this hair will be in a bun by the end of the day and I might not have any electricity!! But, I’ll try to make certain to snap a few pics tomorrow morning before Sandy does her business and my cell dies ;). If all goes well, I’ll share pics tomorrow evening. But, I’m not making any promises!! LOL!

Alright, so to all my ladies (and gents … hey, I think that there are a couple out there ;)) who are in the path of this storm, please stay safe and I’ll “talk” to you on the other side!!

Alright, I’m back … and eating a little crow. LOL! You see, yesterday, I wrote on IG that my hair was not as soft and smooth as it usually feels after a DC and, “If my hair doesn’t feel good/soft wet, it’s unlikely that it’ll feel that way dry.” Well, I’m here this afternoon to tell you that I got a very nice, soft but firm hold from the Mizani leave-in and jelly. And, it also held up in spite of a couple of short encounters with Hurricane Sandy (mind you, I did wear a hat and a raincoat with a hood cinched tight around my neck … but still ;)).

So, without further ado, here are the results of my TnC (Note: I applied a little Wonder Curl Polishing Pomade to my twists before releasing them).